Lutorials: Falling in Love
by ToxicPineapple
Summary: In which Lu loves Scruffy but doesn't know it, Scruffy loves Lu but says she loves Tatum, and Tatum would really rather not be here.


Lutorials: Falling in love.

Lu tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, dark eyes scanning the surface of her desk for cracks. The tepid curiosity present on her chiseled features gave off the vibe that her concern for the state of her desk was far from unjustified. After a moment, she reached out and traced her finger on the shining wooden surface, humming in a satisfied fashion when no offenses presented themselves.

To her left, she heard vibrations, and glanced up with a start. Her eyes were wide and curious. She stood quickly and hustled over to the arm of her couch, scrutinizing the cellular device in front of her. She had an Amino notification.

Amino was, of course, an application similar to a sanctuary. She was safe to express herself and her fears while in the community because she knew her friends there would never judge her. She had made so many friendships and bonds over the course of her time that every time her phone vibrated, her lips pulled back into the sort of smile only induced by her friendships.

Her latest Lutorial post had received a comment from the Star Leader of the community. After observing a period of general indifference to the well-being of the Hamilton Amino, Scruffy had messaged the Amino team and gotten some changes made. As a result, Lu herself was a leader. The memory brought a warm smile to her face.

Scruffy's inquiry required that she answer a question in her next blog.

"I have a question." The comment began thusly. "I have a friend who I message all the time. Every time I speak with them, I feel alive. It's like my entire existence revolves around their approval. And I don't know what I'm experiencing. Can you maybe make a blog about it?"

Lu unlocked her phone with a distasteful air. She was no psychologist, but it wasn't hard to tell what Scruffy was going through. "You might be infatuated, bab." She typed in, her fingers shaking slightly with the realization. "I'll make a blog, but I have little experience on the matter."

Just as she had responded, Scruffy's reply came in. "I'm sure whatever you come up with will be satisfactory. Ily 3"

The text terminology stood for "I love you." But Scruffy used the term so offhandedly that Lu knew it was only her way of expressing her gratitude. Even so, she smiled slightly.

"Ily2." She typed in. Then she stood and walked to the kitchen, pouring out a cup of milk and walking to sit in an armchair. Once she made herself comfortable, she sat down to ponder her next course of action. She had little experience with love in general. Her doubt revolved around the fact that all she'd done was read some questionable fanfictions in the dark of night... and she doubted Scruffy wanted advice on how to give a preferable blow job. She snorted at the thought.

Were she one of the ordinary users, such as WashingDONE or Galaxy, she knew the result would be sex advice. But Lu had hardly sinned. She didn't know the first thing about sex. No, she wasn't taking the Tatum approach on this.

Meanwhile, if she decided to be like Phea, she'd probably just advise Scruffy to let the feelings die inside of her like the insensitive lil' shit she probably was. Lu had few interactions with the user, and wasn't sure how to gauge her creation. Pip and Toxic would advise confession- Toxic would advise bluntness and that... wasn't the best idea. It was never that easy.

Lu sighed, standing up. She needed a second opinion. Her fingers wrapped around the smooth service of her cell phone and she opened up the app, scanning through her chats. She sent a quick message to Optimist to ask her opinion.

Scruffy was, after all, Optimist's pseudonym daughter. Surely she'd know what to do. Despite Lu's initial impression of the user, however, Optimist's reply was short and not helpful.

"Just tell her to do whatever she feels is the right course of action."

But that was clearly something Scruffy has no idea how to do. It wasn't as if the leader's thumbs were broken, but Lu doubted that Scruffy would know which course of action to take. No matter how fast she typed, Lu suspected that she wouldn't know how to continue.

She pondered it. How would she feel if she liked somebody and needed to find a way to deal with it?

She'd probably take the Phea route. A small laugh escaped her throat and she started to type. She added a quick disclaimer in the beginning then moved on to the actual Lutorial.

A few moments passed in silence as she pondered the situation on greater depth. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her. Who was Scruffy infatuated with?

She considered the surplus of people that Scruffy had been shipped with- most commonly being Tatum. Lu made a face. Ew, Tatum. Maybe she liked... hell, it could have been anybody. She let out a frustrated sigh and tangled her fingers in her thick, glossy dark hair. Her irritation stemmed from the lack of knowledge.

As she published the blog, another thought passed through her mind. Why did she care? And why did she feel so tempted to shoot down the idea that Scruffy would like anybody as soon as it came to her?

She looked down at her phone as it vibrated again. Scruffy had posted a comment.

The moment the blog popped up, Scruffy's light eyes were scanning the contents. A smile brought back her lips and she clicked to feature it. Her thumbs shook the slightest bit as she posted her comment. "Thanks bab. Ily."

It wasn't that helpful, in all honesty. Scruffy still had no idea just what to do about her feelings for Lu. But she clenched her teeth in a determined fashion and stood, her hands held behind her back.

The pacing cleared her mind. Each step she took reverberated off the tile floor, slowly centering her concentration. Maybe she should just tell her... maybe...

Her heart was racing when her tablet vibrated. She rushed over to see Lu's reply. "So, who's the lucky person? Who do you like?" The comment was fairly spaced out. "Tell me in PM."

The light, teasing tone of Lu's response gave Scruffy a bad feeling. Lu obviously expected it to be somebody they both knew and liked fairly. She took a deep shuddering sigh and expected to tell Lu it was her.

Then, as she faced the PM, she felt a flutter of fear. What if this ruined their friendship? What if Lu was scared by the notion? There were so many things that could go wrong. Scruffy let out a huffy groan and rested her forehead on her knees. Lu wouldn't like her back. It was too obvious.

Her thumbs shook even harder as she typed in her response. "Tatum."

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shiT SHIT SHIT-

Scruffy cursed herself and threw the tablet on the ground, smacking her forehead. Idiot. There was no way Lu hadn't seen that. Now she thought she liked Tatum. M. How would Tatum feel? How would Vincent feel? Hell, how would Galaxy feel? She rose and grabbed her tablet, taking her seat once more.

"Ah." Lu's reply was automatic. "No wonder you haven't banned her yet."

"Yeah." Scruffy's reply was short. "I won't tell her yet."

"No, tell her! She needs to know." Lu was always so sure of herself. Scruffy groaned and slumped down on her couch. Now she had to tell Tatum that she liked her. And she didn't.

"I... but Lu ;-;."

"I'll tell her if you don't~"

Shit no. Scruffy groaned. "Lu please."

"Too late~"

Scruffy cursed loudly and exited the chat. Christina poked her head in the room. "Watch your language, Alex." She chastised.

Scruffy shot her sister a glare and clicked into the Welcoming Chat. The damage had been done.

"Wait... seriously?" Toxic typed in. "scruFFY NO!"

"I can understand why.." Galaxy replied.

"Get away from my father, pedo." Guac's response made Scruffy snort.

"W h a t." Poor Tatum never did anything to deserve this.

"Im sorry." Scruffy was too panicked to use an apostrophe. She let out another loud graon and rubbed her face with her hands.

"Scruffy, PM, now." Optimist's message filled her with dread.

"okay."

Lu grabbed her coat- she put her phone in her pocket- and pushed open the front door. She needed some fresh air. She needed it badly. Her heart raced as she ran down the sidewalk, faced with the bite of the cold wind.

A car rushed past her and ruffled her hair. She frowned and stopped, putting her hand on her chest to slow her heart rate. "Damn..." she murmured. "Why does this hurt so much?"

Her mind was swirling. Tatum, of all people? She must have been upset at Scruffy's choice of partner. That must have been all. But it was so out of nowhere. If anything, she'd have expected Aaron... or... herself. A small gasp escaped her throat and her hand flew to her mouth.

Did she like Scruffy? Did she want Scruffy to like her? The very notion of Scruffy liking her, a dysfunctional bumbler... actually... filled her with happiness.

But the fact remained that Scruffy liked Tatum. Which meant that Tatum was going to end up feeling real weird about herself and Vincent would probably track Scruffy down in real life to murder her. The idea brought a bitter, regretful chuckle to Lu's lips.

She passed the grocery store and stopped at the park, seating herself on a bench. Slowly, she reached up to massage her temples and calm herself down. This was fine. Scruffy would find a way to get over Tatum once the inevitable awkwardness went down. Lu leaned forward to rest her head on her knees.

Was she getting so worked up because she liked Scruffy? She considered the possibility and surprisingly didn't find it that unlikely. The idea of Scruffy reciprocating the feelings, however, was ridiculous. She wouldn't like her.

Lu rose, approaching a tree and tracing a finger down the base of the trunk. Examining the intricate patterns helped her clear her head. She just had to get over her. Get over it.

Get over it.

"Don't you like Lu?" Optimist's initiation of the conversation was enough to twist Scruffy's gut. She held in a scream as she typed out a shaky "yes" and sent the message.

"Well, why did you tell her you like Tatum? I mean, out of everybody... Tatum? Ew."

"Its so true it hurts." Scruffy let out a sigh and leaned back on the couch. "I just panicked and short circuited."

"Damn, Tatum though." The response made her laugh. "Just tell Lu how you feel."

"I'll work it out. Thanks mom."

After a deep inhalation, Scruffy approached Mango's cage. "I've messed up, Mango. I messed up." She spoke in a soft, sad tone. Christina came up behind her with some sunflower seeds.

"Suck it up, Scruffy, and stop being so melodramatic." Christina chastised. "Mango doesn't need your trauma." Mango squawked, as if to agree.

"Thanks, sis." Scruffy remarked flatly. "I really appreciate your sympathy." Christina only offered a wink and left the room with a carrot in her mouth. Scruffy let out a groan and flopped on the couch, grabbing her tablet.

"Scruffy, I thought you liked Lu?" Misha typed in immediately after she announced her presence. The parallel between that particular conversation starter and that of her pseudonym mom was mildly terrifying. "I mean... I know Lu totally likes you."

"Meaning what...?" Scruffy typed in slowly. "Of course she likes me; we're friends."

"You're kidding, right?" Phea responded.

"She like likes you." Misha's reply implied that he was slowly losing his patience. "Like, she'd probably do you, given the chance."

"How does Lu feel about you spreading these rumors?" Scruffy sent the message with an irritated expression crossing her features.

"Don't ban me, m'lord." Toxic typed in. "But they aren't rumors."

"-banned-" Scruffy snorted softly. "But seriously... do you think she does?"

"Bitch," Tatum replied. "Why do you think she hates our ship so much?"

"Tatum Im so sorry." Scruffy typed hurriedly. "I just wanted to tell her something other than the truth and it came out as you."

"Eh, I'm used to it." Tatum sent in a thumbs up emoticon. "Just clean up your mess."

"Presumably with a mop of emotion." Toxic added helpfully.

"Wh..." Betsey's message was quickly followed up by another. "That's a terrible metaphor."

Scruffy decided to put down the tablet at that point, and presumed to stand up and grab her coat. She wondered if it was possible to tell Lu how she felt in real life.

She also wondered, however, if it was even a good idea. A sigh escaped her lips and she opened the front door. "Chris, I'll be gone for a bit!" She called over her shoulder.

"Fine!" Christina responded with a mouth full of carrot. "But I'm not cleaning Mango's cage for you!"

Scruffy grinned despite her panic and ran out the door.

"Trees are nice." Lu said softly. She heard a loud thud behind her and flipped around, watching a girl recuperate from having just face planted. "Uh, are you okay?" She asked slowly.

"No." Said the stranger, getting up and holding her nose. A thin trail of blood trickled down her lip. "But I'll be fine, thanks."

Lu was already reaching into her pocket and pressing a handkerchief into the stranger's hand. Their fingers touched very briefly. She smiled slightly.

"Thanks," the girl met Lu's gaze with wide, bright eyes.

"Why were you running like that?" Lu asked as the girl pressed the handkerchief to her nose in an attempt to stem the blood flow. "Looking for somebody?"

"Uh, yeah." She smiled. "Somebody that I like a lot... I think I hurt her earlier, thought... so I wanted to fix it."

"I see." Lu nodded. "Well, I'm the only person here.." As she trailed off, her phone vibrated and she started. "Oh, sorry, probably just some of my friends from amino...!"

The girl's eyes widened and she cocked her head to the side, but she didn't say anything. Lu decided not to question it and read the most recent messages.

"FUCK, LU'S ONLINE." Phea was typing in.

"DELETE THE EVIDEENCEEEE-" Galaxy was prone to overreactions. Lu snorted very softly at the insanity.

"Evidence of what?" She hit send and waited for a reply.

"You sa g." Tatum responded. "Scruffy, get ya ass online and delete your messages."

"What amino are you on?" The girl asked. Her gaze was thoughtful. "I'm the leader of Hamilton amino."

"Actually," Lu looked up, startled. "So am I. I'm Lu."

The small expanse within Scruffy's skull shattered into fractals when she realized the girl's identity. Her purpose in the park had been fulfilled. She'd found Lu. She inhaled sharply and put a hand to her temple. "Uh," she started, her tone shaky.

"What is it?" Lu asked. Her eyes were dark and alluring. Scruffy felt she could have stared into them forever.

"I..." Scruffy inhaled. "I'm Scruffy." She finally replied. Lu was silent for a moment before she cracked a grin.

"Tatum is a lucky girl." Her tone was almost bitter, holding edges of barely concealed pain. Scruffy gathered that she was ill-adapted to lying.

She had to admit that it was an attractive trait.

"I don't like Tatum." Scruffy said hurriedly. "I only told you that because I was afraid to tell you who I really like."

Lu blinked. She looked confused. The sad look hadn't altogether left her expression, but curiosity replaced it for the most part. "Then who do you like..?" She queried.

Scruffy was sorely tempted to blurt that she had actually liked Vincent this whole time. That would be easy. It would be so easy. A deep inhalation and a voice in her head that chided her against lying put a stop to that idea as soon as it came. She pressed her lips into a line, took another breath through her nose, and pushed out the answer. "You."

"Very funny." Lu smiled. "Seriously, who do you like?"

"I'm being serious, I like you." Scruffy said, stumbling over her words to say what she wanted to. "I like that you're always accepting of everybody, and you're responsible, and one of the only members of the curation team that I can trust, and I really like talking to you, (you're also pretty attractive, just saying) and-"

"Scruffy, slow down." Said Lu. Her cheeks were reddening by the second as she placed a hand on Scruffy's shoulder. The latter felt her own cheeks heating up and met Lu's eyes. "What... what makes you see all that in me? ...I'm not really that great."

"Pfft, yes you are!" Scruffy laughed it off. "I really like you. And I like the person I am around you... which is crazy. But it's totally okay if you don't like me back! I can, er, live with my feelings and we can just be friends! Y'know, I just thought you should know because honesty is an important part of friendsh-"

"I like you too." Lu cut her off again with the confession. Her expression was unreadable, but bore the unmistakable signs of honesty. "I didn't know it until you said you liked Tatum... but I do like you."

Scruffy blinked, taken aback. Okay, she hadn't exactly seen that coming. A slight smile pulled at her lips. "Really?"

"Yeah," Lu smiled. "Would I lie to you?"

"Good question." Scruffy responded. "Maybe you can answer it in your next Lutorial."

"Oh my god." Lu held a hand over her mouth as she laughed. When she lowered her arm, Scruffy reached out and intertwined their fingers.

Both girls looked down at their joint hands. Scruffy's heart fluttered at the feeling of Lu's hand in hers. It was something she'd wanted to do even before they'd met in person.

After a moment of brief consideration, Scruffy realized that this would probably be the right moment to kiss Lu. Her cheeks heated at the thought and she spared the other girl's face a wary glance.

"You alright?" Lu asked softly.

"Yeah, I'm just contemplating whether or not I should kiss you." Scruffy blurted. "Uh, I mean..."

Lu snorted very softly and leaned forward. "You only had to ask." She whispered. Scruffy felt as if her heart stopped as the distance between them was extinguished in a manner similar to a flame. After a moment of stillness, Scruffy used the hand that wasn't holding Lu's to pull the other girl closer.

And it was history from there.

End.


End file.
